The General Clinical Research Center at New York University/Bellevue Hospital Center (NYU/BHC) was one of the first 12 funded by the NIH in 1960. The goal of our GCRC is to be the focus for clinical research endeavors which elucidate the mechanisms of disease and to pioneer new therapies. The GCRC takes laboratory discoveries from the bench to the bedside and determines the safety and efficacy of new or improved modalities for treatment, diagnosis, or prevention. The mission of the NYU/BHC GCRC is to serve the sickest and poorest citizens in NYC in one of the nation's largest and oldest public hospitals and to bring the advances of modern medicine to cure or ameliorate such diseases as AIDS and cancer. The GCRC is the primary training site for clinical investigators in the physician-scientist tradition, continuation of this invaluable research and training Medicine, Pediatrics, Neurology, Psychiatry, Ob/Gyn, Environ. Medicine, Radiology and Physiology and Neuroscience. Emphasis at our GCRC is on AIDS (epidemiology, pathogenesis, treatment, virology, host response, opportunistic infections, vaccine development), tuberculosis (host factors, rapid diagnosis, modulation by cytokines), cancer (new chemotherapeutics, gene therapy strategies, radiolabeled monoclonal antibody targeting), and neuroscience (basic clinical physiology, PET scanning in schizophrenia, altering drug seeking behavior). Our GCRC embraces a molecular medicine approach to patient oriented research. Our Core Laboratory provides molecular biochemical and cellular-based assays to support these studies. More important, our vision is to create a Program for Gen Therapy within the GCRC to develop gene and DNA based therapies for cancer. AIDS and genetic metabolic disease. The Core Lab will increase its capabilities as a gene therapy assessment laboratory in order to monitor cell and gene therapy endeavors by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, in situ hybridization, and other gene and protein detection techniques. We will continue to provide expert biostatistical consultation and CDMAS support. Recruitment of a new biostatistician has allowed us to intimately involve scientific study design into each protocol. Development of a solid, exciting month-long course to teach clinical researchers the science of their field has been a highly successful training exercise over the past three years. The proposed new directions for enhanced Core Laboratory gene and DNA therapy support will provide for an exciting research environment that will keep NYU/BHC at the forefront of the molecular revolution in medicine.